(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to financial products. More specifically, the invention relates to financial products derived from the input of a virtual community.
(2) Background
Mutual funds of various types are ubiquitous within the investment community. Typical mutual fund companies employ a fund manager to establish and manage the portfolio securities that constitute the fund. Investment decisions for the fund are made by that fund manager, while investors at large are relegated to a passive or a non-participatory function. Moreover, such funds typically release information on fund holdings and transactions on a quarterly basis with only limited detail regarding the transactions conducted during that quarter. Moreover, by the time these quarterly reports actually reach investors in the fund, information contained in the report is largely obsolete.
While the long bull market of recent years has lead to a proliferation of mutual funds, it has also lead to a proliferation of on-line investors that are technologically savvy and able to avail themselves of vast research resources that the Internet provides. This proliferation has been reflected in increasing ranks of day traders and overall security volume attributable to non-institutional investors.